Truro voters OK buying two police cruisers

TRURO – Voters passed all nine articles at a special town meeting Wednesday, authorizing the purchase of two new police cruisers and contributing $10,000 to a two-town emergency shelter in Provincetown.

TRURO – Voters passed all nine articles at a special town meeting Wednesday, authorizing the purchase of two new police cruisers and contributing $10,000 to a two-town emergency shelter in Provincetown.

Town leaders had worried that the required 100 people needed to make up a quorum for town meeting would not materialize. But that was not the case: 176 voters were at the community center for the meeting, according to Susan Joseph, assistant to the town clerk.

The selectmen had made a concerted effort to get voters to come out, including setting the time of the meeting to 6 p.m. rather than 7 p.m., after only 74 people attended a Nov. 12 special town meeting with the same warrant articles. The Nov. 12 meeting was not brought to order.

Cape municipalities have struggled with reaching quorums at town meetings for many years. In 1985, Yarmouth adopted a quorum of zero for its special and annual town meetings, and Mashpee followed in 1986 with a quorum of zero for its annual town meeting and 100 for its special town meeting. Sandwich also has eliminated the quorum requirement for its annual and special town meetings. In 2011, Bourne reduced its quorum requirement for annual and special town meetings from 200 to 125.

Truro, the smallest town on the Cape, has 1,765 voters.

“We probably set a record for the shortest town meeting ever,” Town Moderator Monica Kraft said as the meeting adjourned 22 minutes after it began.

Of primary concern to the Board of Selectmen was paying for the two police cruisers and getting voter authorization to accept the insurance proceeds for a third new vehicle, to replace one that was wrecked.

The Police Department has embarked on a new fleet management plan that cuts the vehicle number in half, from 13 to seven, Police Chief Kyle Takakjian said at the meeting. “Those vehicles will be used more frequently, instead of sitting out back of the station rusting away,” Takakjian said.

Voters authorized accepting $32,138 in insurance proceeds and spending $3,862 in existing cash to replace a cruiser totaled in a crash in August. The officer driving the vehicle was not at fault in the crash, according to the police account of the incident.

Voters approved spending $28,000 in existing cash to buy a Toyota Camry unmarked police cruiser, to replace a 2007 Ford Taurus with 120,000 miles on its odometer and in need of repairs.

Voters also approved spending $30,000 in cash for an all-wheel-drive police vehicle, using two older police vehicles for trade-ins.

The department is changing to all-wheel-drive cars to allow for better response times during storms and to unpaved roads or beaches, Takakjian said.

Voters also approved spending $27,315 in existing cash for repairs to an affordable town-owned rental property at 14 Old Firehouse Road; $15,000 for new overhead doors at the public safety facility; $10,000 for medical supplies and meals at an emergency shelter at the Veterans Memorial Community Center at 2 Mayflower St. in Provincetown; and up to $45,000 to help purchase a parcel of land for affordable housing.

Voters also endorsed the selectmen’s request to indefinitely postpone the last article on the warrant, a placeholder in case more money was needed for management changes in progress in the Fire Department.